Meta wants to speed up the development of new power plants that will supply electricity to its growing network of data centers, and the company has decided that the fastest way forward is to enter the electricity-trading business. Bloomberg reports that Meta and Microsoft have asked the federal government for permission to trade power, while Apple has already secured that approval. Meta believes that having the ability to both purchase and resell electricity will give it more flexibility to support long-term investments in new energy projects.
Urvi Parekh, Meta’s head of global energy, explained to Bloomberg that developers need reassurance that major power consumers are ready to share some of the financial risk. She said developers “want to know that the consumers of power are willing to put skin in the game,” and added that the pace of building new plants has been slower than Meta would like. By taking a more active role, Meta hopes to accelerate the expansion of the grid and secure the massive amount of energy its future data centers will require.
Bloomberg also highlighted the scale of Meta’s energy demand. At least three new gas-fired plants will need to be constructed just to power the company’s expanding data center campus in Louisiana. The rush for electricity reflects the enormous appetite tech firms now have as they scale AI infrastructure at record speed.
